


Before We Collide

by starlalalala



Series: no dawn [4]
Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Angst, Dark God Ryan, Gen, Possession, Sky Factory AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-01
Updated: 2018-02-01
Packaged: 2019-03-12 11:40:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,245
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13546575
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starlalalala/pseuds/starlalalala
Summary: Lindsay offers the first bit of good news in too long.





	Before We Collide

**Author's Note:**

> Alt title: Lindsay Makes Everything Better By Her Very Presence
> 
> I would highly recommend reading the other parts before this, or at least part 1/2. 
> 
> Title from 'Tongue Tied' by the Antlers.
> 
> Big thank you to romanee for helping with editting <3

Michael curled up on the lounge in his room, picking at the edges of the tapestry, fraying and unravelling it until the delicately embroidered vines were unrecognisable. The Dark God wouldn’t be impressed, but _fuck him_.

It was petty and pointless and Michael didn’t know what else to do. He couldn’t fight the Dark God. He’d fucking tried that, when he thought Ryan was gone and they had no choice, and he’d lost. Badly. He couldn’t even force the Dark God to deal with him. The Dark God would never fight _back_. Every time he tried to punch, kick, or tackle, the Dark God laughed it off like it was nothing, bound by Gavin’s stupid deal.

And it wasn’t like he could talk Gavin back to them. He’d tried that, everyone had tried that, and all they got was the Dark God fucking around and _laughing_ at them, ‘cause even if Gavin could hear them, even if he could understand them, he’d never fight back because of the terms of his _stupid fucking deal–_

The tapestry tore in Michael’s grip. Just a little tear at the edge. He hadn’t even noticed how hard he’d been pulling it, but the sound felt satisfying and he stood, ready to rip the whole damn thing in half because what did it fucking matter, anyway.

And then the obsidian floor by his feet cracked.

 

Michael signalled to the others to meet him in his room. Geoff had to drag Ryan through the door, since Jeremy’s gentle coaxing wasn’t working.

Lindsay’s red hair was dull and knotted, her face and clothes covered in obsidian dust, and she walked with a limp, but her eyes were as bright as ever and Michael couldn’t remember the last time he’d seen everyone so happy. They grinned and laughed and hugged, and maybe they all held on for a little too long, but they needed the extra comfort. Even Ryan hesitantly approached and drew Lindsay into a careful hug, too cautious of her injuries.

Michael guided Lindsay to the lounge and sat beside her, their legs pressed close together. Jeremy carefully hopped over the hole she’d left in Michael’s floor with her tunnel, completing the circle they formed. He looked at the ripped tapestry, but didn’t say anything.

None of them acknowledged the obvious absence in the room. They were beginning to get too used to it.

“I think I found a way to get rid of the Dark God,” Lindsay said, and it should have been laughable, how quickly they all froze at those words. She looked at all of them in turn but her hand found Michael’s, and Michael gripped back, trying to control the hope that _wanted_ to bloom, but hope hadn’t done much for them, had it? Jeremy opened his mouth to say something, but she continued before anyone could interrupt. “I was looking through Ryan’s books, and found a configuration of his summon-y thing that might send him the fuck back to wherever he came from.” She dug through her pockets and pulled out a sheet of paper with a hastily scrawled design on it, passing it to Ryan. “Here. Also I broke into your house.”

“That’s fine,” Ryan murmured, barely acknowledging her words. Michael couldn’t understand why the paper was shaking in the still air of the room before he realised it was Ryan trembling. His eyes scanned the scribbled diagram and Michael held his breath, the whole room silent as they waited for Ryan’s verdict. Though Michael knew it wasn’t fair, his other hand clenched into a fist and he couldn’t help but think _come on, come on, you asshole, you better tell us it will work._

“…It might work.”

Michael dragged Lindsay into a hug, hiding his face in her hair, feeling her smile against his neck. He could hear the others –Jeremy’s shocked laughter, a strangled noise coming from Geoff, and Jack’s quiet sigh of relief, all coming together as they realised they had a _chance_.

When Michael pulled away Ryan still clutched the paper like a lifeline, looking over every detail Lindsay had drawn again and again. Ryan barely held himself up, leaning against the wall to stop his legs from giving out, and a month ago Michael would’ve been rushing over to hold him, but now he just held tighter to Lindsay’s hand and looked away.

“I started working on it. I figured out most of the components but I don’t know enough about magic to do the rest, and I can’t fight an Ender Dragon on my own,” Lindsay continued, focused on Ryan, who only nodded along. “I need help.”

“He’ll notice if we all go,” Geoff said. He had his arms crossed as if trying to hold himself together, until Jack approached and drew one hand into his, forcing him to relax. “And he’ll notice if Lindsay stays here too long. Ryan, can you…”

Geoff trailed off. Ryan was already shaking his head.

“What the fuck, Ryan? Of course you can fucking build it!” The words were out before Michael could stop them. Suddenly he didn’t have to look up to meet Ryan’s eyes and that was when he noticed he’d stood up. Jeremy hushed him, his eyes on the door, but Michael was already dropping his voice lower. Lindsay’s hand in his anchored him, stopped him from doing anything too rash. “It’s your mess, Ryan. Fix it.”

“Michael–” Jeremy started.

“I know,” Ryan said. He couldn’t meet Michal’s eyes. “I know. But… _he’ll_ notice if I’m missing. He… you know he visits me almost every…” Ryan’s voice wavered and he looked between them all, then, helplessly, overbright eyes scared and lost and _useless_.

Michael sat back down, biting his lip.

“I can do it.” Jack voice trembled but he held himself steady. Geoff held his hand tighter. “I can go. He doesn’t visit me much after…”

_After_. Michael grit his teeth just thinking about it. Lindsay glanced between them all, confused, but knew better than to ask.

“I’ll go too,” Michael said. He spoke over the protests, eyes on Geoff, searching for his approval on this. “One or two of us won’t make much of a difference if the rest of you keep him distracted. And we can’t waste any time. I can build the configuration while Jack helps Lindsay in The End.”

“You want to help on the configuration?” Ryan asked, and Geoff shook his head but Michael had already turned back to Ryan, anger spiking.

“I summoned Gaia with Jeremy, didn’t I? I can handle this, Ryan.”

Geoff bit his lip, but eventually nodded in agreement. “Ryan will probably be able to keep his attention the most, but Jeremy and I should work as back-ups. So long as he doesn’t get the urge to visit one of you two, we probably have a day or so before he notices you’re missing.”

“Less,” Ryan said. He handed the paper back to Lindsay. His eyes seemed to stare through all of them. “You probably have around six hours, and a little longer for him to figure out where you are.”

“Don’t think you can do your job, Ryan?” Michael asked. When Ryan said nothing, Michael’s face twisted into a snarl, ready to rise and–

And what?

He found his answer in Ryan’s reaction, a quiet, unsure look and Michael stepped forward, but –

 

_“What the fuck do you mean, Ryan?” Michael had snarled, and he shouldn’t be doing this now, not with Jack still practically fucking catatonic, not when the Dark God had only just left and could still be nearby. Jeremy’s grip on his shoulder held him back. Ryan couldn’t meet his eyes, staring at the ground. He did that a lot, now._

_“The Dark God consumes the host. Slowly. It’s why he takes on traits of his host, why he was different when…” Ryan trailed off and Geoff approached him, carefully, reaching out to tilt his head up to look at them all._

_“What’s going to happen to Gavin, Ryan?” Geoff asked. Michael’s pretty fucking sure they all knew the answer._

_“Gavin’s going to… disappear,” Ryan whispered. Even now, he couldn’t say it outright. Couldn’t say Gavin would be_ dead _, couldn’t say Gavin would be_ gone _, couldn’t admit that it was all his_ fucking fault _._

_“You knew,” Michael said, and Jeremy’s grip was weak and easily broken and Michael knew if he looked back Jeremy would be collapsing in on himself, knew Jack had pulled himself together enough to comfort him, but Michael was already on Ryan. He pushed past Geoff without a second thought and Ryan just let himself be backed against the wall, didn’t flinch from Michael’s snarl. He just stared. “You fucking knew the whole time.”_

_“I did,” Ryan said, and the words came out so easily Michael doesn’t feel bad about shoving him against the wall again. “I didn’t want–”_

_“Didn’t want what, Ryan? For the rest of us to know how badly you fucked up?” Michael was yelling now and he knew it was going to get the Dark God’s attention. He didn’t care. “Gavin should’ve never made that fucking deal in the first place. It should be you! It fucking should be y–”_

_“Michael!” Geoff snapped._

“ _Enough_.”

Michael snapped back to the present. Ryan still wouldn’t meet his eyes, even as Michael stepped away.

“There’s no way he doesn’t at least get suspicious if he doesn’t see two of us for several hours,” Geoff continued, moving closer, his hand resting on Michael’s shoulder. “We’ll do what we can, but you need to travel quickly and get it done. The rest of us will follow when he leaves.”

“He’s not gonna just walk into the circle though,” Jeremy pointed out. He grabbed Ryan’s hand and moved him away from Michael, not even bothering with subtly. “We’re gonna have to set a trap.”

“If some of my cloth stuff hasn’t been destroyed, we can cover it up and lure him over it,” Michael suggested. He leaned into Geoff’s touch –a sign, if nothing else, that he was going to at least act calm. “And if the forest’s still alive, there’s leaves too. There should be enough to cover the runes.”

Ryan nodded. “That shouldn’t impact the circle itself. We’ll need four people to activate it around the corners –nothing complicated, just flipping a switch. One person in the centre to lure him in. We’ll have to move quickly once he notices something’s wrong.” Ryan seemed to shake himself, and he met Michael’s eyes. There was something firing him up, now –some determination, some _hope_ that changed Ryan’s entire bearing. “He’ll probably figure out where you are quickly. Delay him. He can’t hurt us.” Ryan stopped suddenly, and all eyes turned to Lindsay as they came to the same realisation.

“Do we know if the… deal extends to you?” Geoff asked, and Lindsay could only shrug.

“He said–” Ryan cleared his throat. “He said that Gavin made a deal for his friends. Lindsay should count, but I don’t know why she wouldn’t have been brought here with the rest of us if that’s the case.”

“I wasn’t constantly with you guys before,” Lindsay shrugged. “He’s looked for me, or at least I’ve seen him around. He hasn’t destroyed everything around me so I think that’s a good sign?”

“Probably,” Jack agreed, “but we still shouldn’t take too many risks. We don’t know what he’ll do, especially if…”

_If Gavin’s not there anymore._

Nobody wanted to say it. Even the thought made it too real.  

“I’ll keep myself hidden until you guys show up,” Lindsay whispered. They all nodded.

“We should leave now,” Michael said, and Lindsay stood beside him, nodding.

“I’ll get you a potion of healing first, Lindsay,” Jeremy said and moved to leave, Geoff following because one of them running off and returning was potentially suspicious. Jack began examining the tunnel Lindsay had made and tried to even out the edges to make it easier to hide, Lindsay talking quietly with him as he walked. Michael watched as Jack’s hand rested on Lindsay’s shoulder, and she leaned into the touch. He wondered how long she’d been alone.

They had no weapons and grabbing food now would raise questions. Luckily, the walk should only be a few hours by Lindsay’s guess, and they might still have supplies at their base. They couldn’t take anything, but that way nothing would slow them down.

Ryan reached out for Michael before he could follow the other two. Michael pulled his arm out of reach and Ryan shied away.  

“Michael –”

“Just do your job, Ryan,” Michael snapped and Ryan’s face fell. Michael felt a sharp pain in his chest, but he pushed past it. This was _Ryan’s fault_ and _Ryan_ had to _fix it_.

“…Good luck,” Ryan said. Michael didn’t look at him.

When Geoff and Jeremy returned, they said their goodbyes. Lindsay hugged Jeremy as he handed her the potion, downing it in one go and then jumping down into the tunnel, Jack following after holding Geoff close and squeezing Jeremy’s shoulder. Before Michael could climb down, Jeremy pulled him into a hug, too.

“Stay safe,” Geoff said from over Jeremy’s shoulder. Michael nodded.

“We’re gonna get him back,” Michael promised. Jeremy nodded against him and pulled away with a trembling smile.

“We’ll see you there,” Jeremy said, and Michael climbed down into the tunnel, the walls illuminated by Lindsay’s torch.

They were going to get Gavin back.

**Author's Note:**

> My tumblr is starlalalala.tumblr.com, if you want to yell at me there. 
> 
> Also, I made a playlist for this AU: https://playmoss.com/en/superspooky/playlist/no-dawn


End file.
